Alcoholic beverages maker, Tilaknagar Industries Limited (TI) said it has agreed to buy 10% stake in Spaceman Spirits Lab (SSLPL) for Rs9.75 crore. The investment, in two tranches, will be through a combination of equity shares and compulsory convertible preference shares.
SSLPL, which started in 2020 and owns Samsara gin, had an annual turnover of Rs2.7 crore during FY22. With this investment, TI now has a presence in the premium craft gin segment, it said in a BSE filing. “The indicative time period for completion of the acquisition is on or before 30 June 2023,” it said.
Small handmade batches of local gin accounted for nearly half of the mass-premium gin segment in the country that had sales of about 168,000 cases (of nine litres each) in 2021, up from 80,400 cases in 2019, data from global alcohol market analysts IWSR show.
For many years, IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) gin brands in the value segment (Rs 240-900) such as Original Choice and Blue Riband dominated the gin market in the country. However, over the past few years, their demand shrunk as consumers traded up for pricier brands. As a result, the value segment of gin fell to about 413,000 cases in 2021 from 895,000 cases in the pre-Covid year of 2019.
The success of local craft gin brands has caught the attention of the big players. United Spirits, the country’s largest alcobev company, acquired a minority stake in Nao Spirits in March last year and said it has significant expansion plans, both domestically and in international markets.
Founded in 1933 as Maharashtra Sugar Mills, Dahanukar-led TIL is among India’s ten largest distillers and sells Mansion House Brandy. Mansion House sold more than 5.5 mn cases during the first nine months of FY23. The brand outsold Diageo’s McDowell’s No 1 to become the country’s biggest brandy brand by volume in 2021.
